Everything Important Dabo Swinney Said after Clemson's Victory Over Georgia Southern

CLEMSON, S.C. — After suffering the worst margin of defeat under head coach Dabo Swinney last week, Clemson Football was able to bounce back for its home-opener against Georgia Southern, beating the Sun Belt program 22-7.

While the win wasn't pretty offensively, as the two teams combined for only a pair of touchdowns, the Tigers' defense played exceptional football, and kicker Nolan Hauser led the way on special teams, going 5-for-5 on the night. He now accounts for 18 of the team's 32 total points through the first two weeks.

There’s a lot to talk about regarding the performance and outcome, so it's time to find out what Swinney had to say following the contest. Here are some of the key quotes from his postgame press conference.

QB Battle Remains Unsolved

As many know, Clemson still has a quarterback problem.

Last week against No. 7 LSU, redshirt junior Christopher Vizzina was announced as the starter but was ultimately pulled by the final drive of the first half after struggling, including a pick-six early in the first quarter.

True freshman Tait Reynolds was thrown in the game for the final drive of the second half and entire third quarter, but didn’t get much opportunity to showcase his arm and wasn’t able to do much on the ground either due to poor offensive line play, finishing the contest with four completions for 22 yards.

Heading into this weekend’s game, the pair of signal callers were made co-starters, but Vizzina got to trot out onto the field first. He led a touchdown drive before throwing a deep ball that was picked off, leaving Reynolds to enter the game. However, what most people didn’t know following that play was that Vizzina’s left arm was numb.

“We wanted to get him back in there but his left arm was numb, basically,” Swinney informed. “He was still going to go, and I’m like, ‘No, no, I mean, we need like two arms.” Make sure we got two. So we’ll see. Hopefully it’s nothing bad.”

While the specifics of the injury remain unknown, one thing we do know is that Reynolds finished the game, totaling 216 scrimmage yards and showed a lot of upside in addition to making a handful of mistakes, as most true freshmen do.

“Yeah, I mean, you look around College Football,” Swinney said. “I mean, the best offenses have a guy at quarterback that can move,” When things are covered, when things break down, and I mean none are more of a perfect example than that third-and-10. I mean, he gets outside, they got him, and then they don’t have him, and then he outruns them. So yeah, that’s why we recruited him. And you see his arm talent, I mean, his arm talent is really special.”

“But, you know, we just need to polish him up and hone him in, and he’s just got to continue to play, and he’ll get better. But no question he’s gifted that way… So there’s a lot to be excited about, but pump the brakes because, you know, he did some really boneheaded stuff, and I was losing my mind on the sideline because it’s simple to me. I told Tajh [Boyd], ‘He looks like you looked against Troy and Wofford your redshirt sophomore year.’ Very similar.

"Those that were around here, we were terrible in the Troy game and the Wofford game in 2011, and that was when Tajh was just kind of playing and I mean we're just scratching our head. I'm like, 'What is he doing?" But he got better, and he got better, and "[Tait] is going to get better. He's got a bright future. He's gonna be a good one, he ain't a good one right now, but he's gonna be."

Entering Week 3, it’s yet again unknown who will be the starter, according to Swinney.

However, 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported on Sunday afternoon that Vizzina will miss at least the team’s matchup against North Carolina next weekend with an elbow injury, leaving Reynolds as the go-ahead starter to begin ACC play.

Clemson quarterback Christopher Vizzina suffered an elbow injury vs. Georgia Southern yesterday and is currently expected to miss at least the Tigers’ upcoming game against North Carolina, sources tell @CBSSports.

Freshman Tait Reynolds is expected to start vs. UNC. pic.twitter.com/WSnMaIGjwo
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) September 13, 2026

Offensive Line Play

Yet again, the Clemson offensive line struggled, totaling six penalties while allowing 11 tackles for a loss and two sacks. It’s clearly been the worst aspect of the team over the past two weeks, making it even harder to evaluate other talent because as most know, it all starts in the trenches.

However, Swinney feels that ‘a lot of it was on the quarterback’ rather than the offensive linemen. Nevertheless, he knows the room needs to get better.

“Well a lot of it wasn’t on the [offensive line]. A lot of it was on the quarterback,” he made clear. “So it starts with the quarterback making the right decision. Some of it was on the OL or the tight end or whatever, but a lot of it was on our quarterback, just not doing what he’s supposed to do. So it’s a concern any time you have TFLs and when you have a bunch of penalties like we had, it’s so frustrating. So they got to get better.”

Throughout the contest, offensive line coach Matt Luke also decided to make some adjustments, giving sophomore Gavin Blanchard some reps at right guard, 25 snaps to be specific. True freshman Grant Wise also saw eight snaps at left tackle.

“Yeah, I mean, we think Gavin [Blanchard] deserves to play some and really like his competitiveness,” Swinney explained. “Grant Wise is coming. I think we got him in there a little bit. So yeah, just trying to build depth and competition for our season.”

Finding a Way to Win

While the offense as a whole struggled, the Tigers still found a way to get the job done and take home a win. As mentioned, the keys to victory for the ACC program were both special teams and defense.

“At the end of the day, we got the job done,” Swinney began. “Mission accomplished as far as finding a way to win and that’s kind of really what it was: we found a way to win. For this game, it was special teams and defense. At some point, we’re going to have to win because of our offense. But tonight we won because of our special teams and won because of our defense.”

Clemson’s secondary played very well outside of a 42-yard touchdown catch by Illinois transfer Ashton Hollins, allowing under 250 passing yards and forcing the Eagles to convert just 4-of-17 third downs.

The special teams, though, single-handedly saved the day. True freshman longsnapper Jackson Reach was able to come up with a big turnover off a muffed punt on the first offensive drive of the game. Fifth-year punter Jack Smith has also been instrumental over the past two weeks, totaling 17 punts for 682 yards in the span. And of course, Hauser was perfect from the field, making all five of his field goal attempts, with longs of 49 and 50 — both of which came in crunch time.

[I’m] really proud of the improvement there,” he continued. “Special teams was awesome. I mean, just awesome. The punt caused fumble recovery by Reach. Big play punt return by Wesco, I think that was a career-high for him. Jack Smith was incredible. I thought he had a great night, he had five inside the 20 and a long of 46. Then Hauser, I mean, five-for-five, he was money.

“Obviously, we want to convert some of those field goals to touchdowns, you know, if you do you put the game away. When you don’t, you allow them to hang around. So it was good and bad. I’m proud of Hauser, but I really don’t want to kick five field goals. I’d like to kick two and get three more touchdowns.”

Offensive Improvements

Swinney was critical of his offense following the contest, which is understandable considering the starters have accumulated just 10 points across the first two weeks of the season.

Similar to Week 1, the Tigers struggled on third down, converting just 2-of-14. While the run game was better than against LSU, the backfield still struggled with efficiency, averaging under four yards per carry.

Looking forward, those two aspects, as well as penalties and quarterback play will be an emphasis of improvement.

“Well, we got to be better on third down. We got to run the ball more efficiently. We can’t have 10 penalties for 100 yards, or however many it was,” the veteran coach said. “I mean, it seemed like we went, I don’t know, maybe four or five drives in a row, and we had a penalty. I mean, so it’s hard to overcome those things. So, we’ve got to clean up the mistakes. And then the quarterback’s gotta, you know, just play within the system. That’s really what we got to do.”

Wide Receiver Production

While the offense struggled, the wideouts were the bright spot, as T.J. Moore logged seven catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. Wesco consistently saw the ball come his way, too, tallying six receptions for 35 yards.

Regardless, Swinney feels each of the three starters should have gotten a few more touches, but didn't due to the quarterback play. Tyler Brown, though, impressed his coach after a strong four-catch, 44-yard performance.

“[Brown had] tough yards, too. Tough yards. And honestly, there’s probably three or four more that Wesco, Moore and Tyler should have had,” he finished. “You know, some things that are built in that we didn’t take advantage of. Again, some quarterback stuff we have to be a little better at. But man, TB, he runs tough. I mean, it’s just so awesome to see him healthy and they played a lot of coverage.”

“They did some exotic stuff, they did a nice job. They had a lot of corner cats, and they would get the safety down in there some and do some different things… But I thought the receivers, again, continue to play well. That’s two games in a row where I think those guys are what we need them to be, outside of the one play that T.J. should have made. He’s got to make that play. That was an elite ball, hit him right in the shoulder. He knows he’s got to make that play.”

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